Can You Learn to be a Morning Person?

I really enjoyed reading a recent article from Apartment Therapy covering how to be a morning person.

You're going to aim to wake up at the same time every day
Yes, even on the weekends. If you want to be a morning person, an important aspect of that is going to be consistency. Waking up at the same time everyday has science-backed biological benefits. (This Fast Company article speaks about it. And this Huffington Post article explains it might even help you weigh less.)

This single point is something most people completely neglect. They assume that weekends are the time to make up for lost sleep. Rather, if you go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning, you not only ensure you are getting enough sleep, but also will find your body will adjust to the habit itself. Both going to bed and waking up become much easier once you have trained your mind and body.

Make your bedroom be all about the wake-up
If you have no trouble falling asleep, you might turn your bedroom from a cozy cocoon for sleeping into a bold and energetic room for waking up. We're talking about maximizing morning light, incorporating light or bright colors and maybe even throwing some busy patterns into the mix to get your energy levels up.

The role of the lighting in your room plays a powerful role in both falling asleep as I explored in my book, but you also need to consider the role it plays in waking up as well. Our bodies adjust to the light we expose ourselves to. It is important to set tight controls over that same light if you want to maximize the quantity and quality of sleep. As Apartment Therapy points out, it also impacts how easy or difficult it is to get up in the morning.